How data can be the new glue that actually brings teams together

Data has become the new compass for navigating the complex world of financial services. ?As the environment around becomes more and more unpredictable, prudent decisions using data insights are no longer an option, but in my opinion, the only way to do business. As my team will tell you – “Without data, its just an opinion.”

Data in the context of lending has undergone a tremendous revolution. Not only has the amount of data being captured on a day-to-day basis increased manifold, but with advanced storage a lot of history can be analyzed. This helps a lot in finding rare patterns, learning from the past and, yes, be ready for some rare events in the future.

The challenge now is not about what data we have but about what we do with it and are able ?draw some meaningful insights with it. Intelligent use of existing data will be a big differentiator in the future. The trick is to look at a business challenge, convert it into a data problem, use the right data analysis (might be as simple as a univariate study to some complex models using advanced statistical theories) to find solutions and then present the solution in the form of actionable insights to the business teams.

Each business team should have a data champion who works closely with the data science team and develops the culture of data-driven decision-making across teams. The success of a data driven organization is nothing but the closeness with which business teams and the analytics team interact so that there is no understanding gap. One might have the best data scientist and the best model but will be of little value unless the data findings are backed by a solid business rationale and therefore acceptability leading to implementation. Similarly, the best business minds without data might lose out on hidden patterns and insights that only data analysis can give. Thus, I believe that all strategic conversations need to include the analytics team to get a better understanding of the issues and thus plan for the future. The analytics team also needs to have people from different backgrounds- Statistics, engineering and MBAs so that, a multi-disciplinary approach is taken while solving a business problem.

The transformative power of analytics is something I will discuss in a later blog and in some sense it has redefined workplace dynamics. Some areas like Fraud detection and prevention, marketing and customer support have been completely transformed. Teams like commercial and MSME teams have also evolved and started using Analytics in a big way now and I can surely see some exciting times ahead. Analytics has travelled both horizontally meaning covering a lot more functions (like even HR, Ops) and vertical as in gone deeper in traditional areas of Risk, Credit and Sales solving a lot of complex problems.

In an era defined by data, the future belongs to those who can harness its power effectively and responsibly. So let us all work together as a team to harness this resource for the betterment of our customers and our industry.

I leave you with the famous quote by W.E Deming, one of the foremost thinkers of our time, who said: “In God we trust. All others must bring data.”